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Which? reveals most common broadband problems

Results from our survey show that customers are faced with slow speeds, drop outs and price rises

The latest broadband customer satisfaction survey from Which? has revealed that the majority of households have encountered issues with their broadband service over the past year.

The results, based on a survey of over 1,700 people, found that 53% had experienced a problem with their broadband, with customers of Virgin Media (61%), TalkTalk (60%), Sky (56%) and BT (54%) some of the most likely to encounter an issue.

Virgin customers’ top complaint was price increases (38%), while over a third of TalkTalk (33%) customers and more than one in five (22%) of BT customers surveyed suffered very slow broadband speeds.

Slow broadband speeds and drop outs

Respondents to our survey were affected by a range of issues including router problems and customer service headaches. One in seven Virgin Media customers told us they’d had an problem with their router, while one in 100 BT customers surveyed said they struggled to get in touch with their provider.

Frequent connection dropouts were the third most common issue overall: 17% of survey respondents said they’d been affected, though a higher than average proportion of TalkTalk customers (25%) said their connection had been unreliable.

Slow broadband speed was the biggest problem for people overall, with one in five experiencing difficulties. Standard broadband customers were most likely to complain of problems with their speed, but one in seven fibre customers said they’d experienced slow speeds too.

TalkTalk and Sky customers were more likely to complain of slow speeds than customers of other broadband providers.

Check your broadband speed

If you’re one of the people up and down the country experiencing issues with their broadband, use our free speed checker to help you discover whether the speed you’re getting is what you signed up for. You can also read our advice about how to complain about slow broadband speed if your provider isn’t meeting your expectations.

Last week Ofcom announced a proposal that would require broadband providers to give customers an estimated range of speeds they’re likely to receive – and the ability to cancel their contract without fee if the speed fell below a minimum level.

Want to switch to a better broadband deal?

Our biannual survey explores which providers consumers have the most issues with, and how satisfied they are. But while a reliable provider is important, we know that price matters, too – so we also comb through all of the broadband deals offered by providers to check how much you could save.